Trump defends Jim Jordan; new victim emerges

Thursday

At least four Ohio State Buckeye wrestlers allege they were abused by a doctor and Jordan, an assistant coach at that time, knew about it.

President Donald Trump defended Jim Jordan against accusations the Ohio congressman knew of sexual abuse by an Ohio State University sports doctor and didn't reveal it.

“I don’t believe them at all," Trump told reporters Thursday afternoon on Air Force One as they flew to a rally in Montana.

"I believe him. Jim Jordan is one of the most-outstanding people I’ve met since I’ve been in Washington. I believe him 100 percent. No question in my mind. I believe Jim Jordan 100 percent. He’s an outstanding man.”

Trump's vocal support came about the same time a fourth Buckeye wrestler came forward to say he was abused by the doctor and that Jordan, an assistant coach from 1986 to 1994, knew about it.

Shawn Dailey told NBC News he was groped half a dozen times by Dr. Richard Strauss, who died of suicide in 2005. Dailey said he was too embarrassed to report the incidents to Jordan at the time, but added that Jordan took part in conversations where Strauss' reported abuse of many other team members came up.

"I participated with Jimmy and the other wrestlers in locker-room talk about Strauss. We all did," Dailey, 43, told NBC. "It was very common knowledge in the locker room that if you went to Dr. Strauss for anything, you would have to pull your pants down.”

Trump's backing came a few hours after the revelations that the legal team investigating the doctor for Ohio State used the wrong email address when they tried to contact Jordan twice in May.

The error explains the discrepancy between accounts from a lawyer hired by OSU and the Urbana Republican about whether he was contacted for the probe of the doctor. What remains unexplained is why Jordan's office has no records of phone calls from the investigators.

"While the independent investigators reviewing allegations of sexual abuse by the late Dr. Richard Strauss attempted to contact Representative Jim Jordan by these emails and a follow up phone call on June 12, it appears that Representative Jordan did not receive these messages," attorney Kathleen Trafford said in a statement provided by Ohio State. She added that investigators "are communicating on next steps with his office now."

Investigators emailed jim.jordan@mail.house.gov on May 14 and May 24 about setting up an interview as part of their probe, according to emails provided by Trafford, through OSU. Trafford is an attorney for Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP, which has hired Perkins Coie to carry out the investigation.

Jordan's office said while that email style follows the naming convention for House staffers, it does not lead to Jordan nor his office.

Those rapid developments follow accounts from three wrestlers earlier this week that Jordan knew about the doctor's sexual abuse of wrestlers and failed to tell authorities.

Jordan repeated on Thursday, “If there had been any reports of abuse, I would've reported it.”

One of his accusers, former Buckeye wrestler Michael DiSabato, said Thursday that Jordan gave out a certificate each year called “King of the Sauna,” to the person who talked the most smack in the sauna. Jordan, he said, hung out in the sauna daily.

A Jordan spokesman confirmed Jordan gave out the award, but said the future congressman saw nothing in the sauna that raised alarms about abuse.

Those comments on the same day that Jordan contacted U.S. Capitol Police to report harassing emails from DiSabato, including one saying Jordan is now "boxed in like a (rat emoji)." In the days since DiSabato made his accusations, Jordan has fought back, insisting the reports that he knew of abuse and did not report it were “absolutely untrue.”

Karen Mendoza, whose husband Ray died in Iraq in 2005, issued a statement through Jordan’s office saying DiSabato reached out to her after her husband’s death to help create a memorial fund that would help surviving members of service members killed in action, provide leadership classes at Ohio State and support Ohio wrestlers in pursuit of their Olympic goals.

The partnership initially went well, but when Mendoza started asking questions about how the money was being spent, DiSabato became defensive. Eventually, “I could not get him to return text or emails or phone calls," she said. She said she eventually filed a cease and desist order against him in order to stop DiSabato from using her husband’s image. She later filed a formal complaint with the Ohio attorney general.

And former Ohio State star football player Matt Finkes filed a police report Thursday with the Columbus Police Department accusing DiSabato of email harassment. DiSabato was also arrested in February after he was accused of telephone harassment against sports agent Bret Adams, who has sued DiSabato for defamation, slander and invasion of privacy.

DiSabato, however, said the attacks were just aimed at deflecting from his accusations.

"The fact is that he saw all this and now he’s trying to make the victims look like we’re lying, and dude, I’m sorry, but that’s not cool," he said.

Even as some question DiSabato's credibility, other victims have come forward with accounts of sexual misconduct by Strauss.

Brian Garrett, a nursing student at Ohio State in the mid-1990s, said he worked for Strauss in the doctor’s private practice when he graduated in 1996.

Garrett told The Dispatch he and other employees were asked mostly to answer the phone and help with paperwork, and sometimes Strauss asked them to observe during examinations. On one occasion, Strauss asked Garrett to observe an exam during which Strauss had a patient’s pants down and groped him to the point where the patient ejaculated.

“I've been in health care for 24 years,” said Garrett, who still works in nursing. “I’ve never seen anything like that in my life."

The same day, Garrett said Strauss touched him inappropriately during an examination after Garrett complained about a sore throat. Garrett didn’t return to work for Strauss after that, he said.

He said he didn’t report the misconduct to anyone at the time because he didn’t know who to tell, and was worried doing so would lead to consequences as he applied to graduate school at Ohio State, he said.

jwehrman@dispatch.com

@JessicaWehrman

jsmola@dispatch.com

@jennsmola

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